OBJECTIVES

: Management of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is important in risk reduction of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The 2015 Korean dyslipidemia guideline recommends LDL-C goals depending on the risk groups. The aim of this study is to examine the LDL-C goal attainment among patients with hyperlipidemia per 2015 Korean dyslipidemia guidelines.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed using data from Korea Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2009 to 2015. Patients aged ≥18 years with either hyperlipidemia diagnosis and using lipid lowering therapies were identified. CVD risk groups were categorized into very high, high, moderate, and low risk based on 2015 Korean dyslipidemia guidelines. The recommended LDL-C goals were 70, 100, 130, and 160mg/dl for the risk groups, respectively. The proportion of patients meeting recommended LDL-C goals was estimated overall and by each risk group. All analyses were performed using weight­ed variables

RESULTS

: There were 10,265,888 patients with hyperlipidemia. Among them, 6,171,738 (60.1%) patients were on lipid lowering therapy and they were included in final analysis. From 2009 to 2015 on an average 37.8% patients did not meet recommended LDL-C goals among patients with hyperlipidemia. Within each risk group, from 2009 to 2015 the average proportions of patients who did not meet the goals were 74.8% in very high risk group, 44.9% in high risk group, 33.6% in moderate risk group, and 37.8% in the low risk group. The proportion of patients who did not meet recommended LDL-C goal in very high risk group changed from 89.0% to 71.3% (p-value=0.041). The proportion in 2015 was, 71.3%, 33.7%, 24.5% and 15.3%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

: A large proportion of patients with very high risk of CVD still could not achieve the recommended LDL-C goal, though improvement has been observed from 2009-2015. Unmet need of LDL-C control still exists in South Korea